Quack ExPt Fate
by Knight of L-sama
Summary: COMPLETE...AS forum short... NanoFate in a warped, Nanoha-is-a-bonafide-devil and Fate-is-her-moe-POW/pet... It's short, just read it... and the title is supposed to be read as: "Quack!Fate"
1. Chapter 1

**09/13/08- Psychotic Devil!Nanoha**

When the doors slammed open, ricocheting against the walls on either side of the doorframe and doubling back, no doubt deepening the holes already far in the making, the room went silent.

When the White Devil walked into a room, you kept your mouth shut unless spoken to and that was that.

And when the White Devil wore her black hair ribbons and a sickeningly sweet smile on her face, you knew that somebody, somewhere, was living on borrowed time.

"I want her location. /Now./"

No one spoke. No one wanted to ask "Who?" and be answered with "You, numbskull." The White Devil was notorious for unorthodox, unreasonable, excessive use of her favorite attack- the Starlight Breaker. It was said that the attack had the power to shatter rays of light from any given star, visibly distorting light in a given area.

The air was said to turn /pink/. And whoever she aimed it at… regardless, it was a gruesome fate, for both the air and the opposition.

"ANSWER me, dammit! Where the hell is she? Where the hell is that Hayate?"

A few brave souls breathed sighs of relief. They weren't the victims this time around. The White Devil was just after her childhood rival, Devil-ISH Hayate. It was said that ISH stood for something, but any who managed to find out the truth were maimed the moment they tried to repeat it to anyone. There was much speculation of course, but no hard evidence either way. The White Devil likely knew, but like hell was anyone going to ask her.

Her demand was answered by her trusted second-in-command, likely the only one who could talk to the White Devil straight on- dared to use the White Devil's given name even- and not be sent reeling back on her keister. "Nanoha, she was spotted heading for the bayou near Uminari."

The White Devil let loose a string of curses that some of the less seasoned warriors feared was really an incantation of pure evil. "What the hell is she doing in Uminari?"

"Uh… sources report that she was after Fate… who went there… alone…"

The White Devil's blue eyes turned into the red they were well known for just before someone met their death by her hand. "And /which/ imbecile let their eyes off of her and allowed her to go to Uminari /alone/?"

No one answered. That, by association, meant that if no one answered, everyone got punished.

"Need I remind you of the two rules I allowed you all to join my ranks so long as you obeyed? Need I remind you of what happens to those who /break/ those two rules?"

The air was stale in the dungeon. The bodies, the sweat, the /fear/ made everything seem all the more stifling.

The White Devil eyed each of the members of her advising board carefully. One by one. Sized them up. Mentally measured their level of sweat proportional to their level of guilt.

She snapped up a pencil out of the hand of one of her more dutiful note-takers. Everyone was instantly sorry that that mousy warrior liked to keep his pencils nice and sharp. Everyone hated the ferret changeling. Feared what the White Devil was going to do with that nice, sharp, pointy-ended pencil.

When the White Devil drove half the pencil into the edge of the table like a nail being driven in with a bare hand faster than a hammer ever could, more than one "brave" warrior there stained his pants.

What came next was even worse. She graved hold of the cuff of a nameless door guard and before anyone knew which way was up, she had slammed his forehead straight down the length of the pencil. When he slumped to the floor, there was no pencil left on the table.

"Rule One: Never let Fate out of your sight." The White Devil regarded her followers. The frown was still there. "Who was in charge of watching her when she left the grounds? Whoever owns up to it now /may/ be spared depending on the amount of trouble I'll have to go through to get her back. Now who was it?!"

All eyes pointed at the owner of the pencil, who looked around and gulped.

"Yuuno, was it you?"

"Uh…" Yuuno whimpered. "You said she couldn't keep a pet duck so she went to Uminari to free it…"

"And you let /her/ go?!" Yunno suddenly found himself pulled up by the collar of his shirt. "You ferret-yogurt for brains, can you not /think/? Has all that time in that infernal library of yours /rotted/ your brains? If I say she isn't allowed to have a pet duck and she wants to free that duck in the goddamn peaceful river near Uminari, then /you/ take that duck and when you're no longer on watch for her /you/ release it wherever she wants it. How /hard/ is that to understand? Huh?! I /asked/ you a question."

"Uhhh… Not… very… hard…"

"Then why, pray tell, could you not /do/ that?"

"Because umm… I was b… busy… Fate asked if I could and I kinda just said 'okay'…"

"And what were you so 'busy' with? I know a sure and simple way to make sure you are /never/ too 'busy' again."

"Ahhh… ummm…"

The White Devil stared him down for a few moments longer before throwing him down in disgust. Turning her back on the table, she ordered her second-in-command, "Vita, see to it that Yuuno gets his just desserts."

"Eh? Right. Are you going to find Fate now?"

"As if I could trust any of these numbskulls to bring Fate back let alone deal with Hayate on top of that. Of course I'll do it myself."

"Ah… 'have a safe trip' then…"

"Whatever." The White Devil sighed and walked out of the room. When the door closed behind her, everyone slumped in their seats as if ten years of their extended lives had just been cut off.

Yuuno, however, was in no condition to calm down. Vita turned on him. "Nobody gets Nanoha mad and lives to tell about it, kid. You know why don't you? Rule 2."

"Uh…"

"Anyone that Nanoha doesn't feel fit to punish, Vita and Graf Eisen will punish personally. You've triggered two rules in one day, Yuuno. Your minutes are numbered."

Yuuno gulped.

Meanwhile, in the quiet grassy banks of Uminari Bayou #XX, Fate was giving her duck one last hug. "You take care of yourself, all right, Quack? Promise?"

"QUACK!" The yellow duck honked and tried to worm its way closer to Fate, farther from the impending separation.

Fate giggled. "Stop that, Quack. It tickles. And I have to go soon or else Nanoha will get mad. You don't want to see Nanoha mad do you?"

Before the duckling could even make sense of what was happening, a shadow loomed over Fate and Quack could only say his namesake in warning "QUACK!"

Then, a great explosion burst to life behind Fate, sending her sprawling into the thick grass. Quack still in her grasp, she looked up in amazement as she saw Nanoha standing in profile. Fate looked where Nanoha's gaze was directed, and saw Hayate with Signum on the side.

Fate looked back at Nanoha, and realized that she was going to get the spanking of a lifetime when she got back home. But for now…

"Hayate," the White Devil spat the name as if merely saying it made her want to retch. "Devil-Innocent Seku Hara Hayate. You were /not/ about to touch my Fate-chan."

Hayate's stern expression broke into a grin. "No, no I wasn't. I just wanted to tell her she should be getting home before you found out she was all the way out here alone, but I guess that plan's a bit shot now, isn't it?"

Nanoha raised her staff. "Forget the reasons. Let's settle our duel once and for all."

"Winner gets?"

"To choose the punishment. Only involving us two."

Hayate sighed loftily and raised her weapon. "Fair enough, I suppose. Signum, go sit over by Fate-chan."

As Signum walked over to do just that, Nanoha spoke out. "Signum. If /you/ lay one finger on Fate-chan, I'll cut off each of your fingers one by one."

Signum gulped and nodded. As Hayate and Nanoha started their fight, Signum looked over at Fate. She could look, right? Looking wasn't touching.

Fate looked back. With innocent eyes, she held out her duck. "Have you met Quack?"

Not TBC… or maybe yes. :ninja:

A/N: Please review ftw


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: o.o OMG... you guys are so weird... thanks for the reviews... for this chapter, it should be noted that Signum and Fate are in chibi form throughout this. Ageunknown in the devil world (physical varies from chronological and all that) but chibi yes. With that in mind...

Quack!Fate- Pt.2

Signum looked between her mistress who was squaring off against Nanoha and the duck in Fate's hand. Bracing herself on two hands she leaned over and looked at the duck. "No, I haven't. This is Quack? Hewo there. I'm Signum."

"Quack! Quack Kwack Quack!" Quack loved his name to death. After all, Fate had named him.

Fate translated, "Quack says it's nice to finally meet the big-boobed girl… Sigu-neechan, what does 'boob' mean?"

The eternal blush on Signum's cheeks from being DevilISH Hayate's plaything doubled in redness. "It means… umm… I'm the umm… favored one." Signum finished in a soft voice.

"Favored?" Fate tilted her head to the side curiously. Petting Quack absently, she asked, "What does that mean? Favored by who?"

Signum pointed at the two who were currently fighting.

Well, demonically fighting.

You see, the thing with devils is that they use their devilish ways if they want to get someone to "listen" to them.

Devil Nanoha specializes in the demonic ability of "Take-No-Prisoners Befriending" that comes in the form of her SLB attacks. However, if she cannot get far enough away to properly charge up and launch her long distance attack…

Well, she's basically just Yuuno with a pitchfork that's missing a prong.

And that meant Nanoha was, well, about as defenseless against Hayate's demonic ability as every other girl in existence. The sweet torture that was Hayate's Come-From-Behind Gropeage attack made Nanoha moan and groan and say bad words that Fate would have repeated if she wasn't so fixated on getting answers from Signum.

"Ne, ne, Sigu-neechan," Fate tugged on Signum's sleeve with her free hand and pouted. "Is Nano-chan 'favored' too? Is she a 'big-boobed girl' too?"

Signum's eyes were white saucers as she tried frantically to undo what she had unwittingly unleashed. "No! N-Nanoha-san is um, well, it's not that she's _not_ favored, but I've been favored longer. See, when Mistress Hayate rubs your… chest… it starts growing more and more every night and then boom! Everyone knows you're favored by Mistress Hayate. See?" Signum pointed at her own chest. "These lumps are boobs."

"Oohhhh," Fate nodded happily, understanding. "So 'big-boobed' means you have big lumps on your chest. I see. Quack is so smart, picking up on that." Fate frowned and looked down at her own flat chest. "But I don't have any lumps… I wanna be favored too!"

Signum crossed her legs and folded her arms in typical meditation stance. "If Mistress Hayate wins, maybe you can ask her, but Nanoha-san won't let you be favored by Mistress Hayate."

"Wha…" Fate pouted. "Why not? Because Nano-chan isn't favored a lot either? She's being favored up right now, isn't she?"

"Uhh…" Signum looked around, searching for a distraction. Seeing Quack, she held out a hand. "Can I pet Quack?"

"Sure! Quack likes to be petted." Fate forgot all about being favored as she watched Signum tentatively hold out her hand and almost bop Quack on the head as if he were an alarm clock she was afraid of.

Quack honked loudly, scaring Signum.

"Bad Quack! Bad!" Fate bopped Quack on the head purposefully, earning another honk. "Play nice! Sigu-nee, want to try again?"

"O…Okay." Signum tentatively inched her hand closer and closer until…

Quack bit her.

Without teeth.

It still hurt, like a door closing on Signum's finger.

Little tears welled up in Signum's eyes as she stared at her retracted overly huge red finger. "Quack hates me…"

"Ahhh!! Don't cry, Sigu-nee! It's okay, it's okay! Pain, Pain, Fly Away! Pain, Pain, Fly Away!" Fate waited and then looked up at Signum's face. "Does it still hurt?"

Signum pouted and nodded tersely.

"Aww… Ooh, I know! Quack, Quack, Fly Away! Quack, Quack-"

Quack, confused but obedient, waddled away from Fate, flapped its itty bitty wings, and flew onto the surface of the river. He began swimming away.

"Ahh!! Quack! Qua- I mean, where are you going?" Fate frowned as she watched Quack become a speck in the distance. "Oh well, I was supposed to say bai-bai to him anyway… Sigu-nee, does it still hurt?"

Signum had resorted to sucking on her poor finger. She took it out of her mouth and looked at it. "Unh. It's okay now."

Fate grinned happily and threw her hands up in the air. "Yay! Bonzai! Ooh, you want to see my devilish ability? It's super duper cool!"

Signum looked at the two devils still finding and nodded at Fate. "Okay. What is it?"

"I call it the Never-Fails-to-Work Band-aid!" Fate giggled and took Signum's hand, holding the injured finger to her lips and kissing it. "A kiss makes it all better! Right?"

Signum stared in amazement. "It is! It is all better! You'll be a great devil one day, Teste-"

"Signum! What. Did. I. Tell. YOU!" Signum was suddenly knocked into the water with the weight of her Mistress, just before Devil Nanoha's eyes turned a deep red and she fired her signature attack. "Starlight… Breaker!"

A few minutes later, the steam cleared to reveal that both Hayate and Signum had been knocked out cold.

"Fate-chan" Nanoha landed back on the ground and retracted her weapon. Holding out her arms, she picked up Fate who held onto her without question. Gone was the Devil in Devil Nanoha. Cuddling with Fate, she asked, "Mou, you had me worried. Don't go off on your own like that, okay? It's dangerous."

"Yes Nano-chan." Fate stared at Nanoha's little lumps. "Nano-chan, can I rub your chest when we get home?"

So happy was Nanoha at this that she did not even collect on her side of the bargain as the victor. Walking away until she could take flight, Nanoha asked, "Sure, but why?"

Fate explained, "Sigu-nee told me that after Hayate rubbed her chest it got all big and then everyone knew Hayate favored Sigu-nee so I want to rub your chest so that everyone knows I favor you. Lots and lots."

Nanoha had stars in her eyes as she cuddled with Fate more. "You're so cute, Fate-chan! I understand! I'll rub my affection on you, too! Lots and lots because I love Fate-chan."

Fate didn't bother to ask what 'love' had to do with it, because she was tired after her day of playing with Signum and Quack. With a little yawn she curled up against Nanoha's (currently) flat chest and napped. She dreamed a happy dream where she grew up to be a big-boobed girl just like her Sigu-nee.

--

Upon arriving back at the stronghold, Nanoha again slammed open the doors, and everyone froze. The words that came out of Nanoha's mouth, however, were anything but expected.

That is to say, it was unexpected.

"Everyone gets the rest of the week off so long as Fate and I aren't disturbed. Dismissed!"

With a spring to her step, Nanoha returned to her bedchambers and settled Fate down on the bed, waiting for her to awaken for her little nap.

Nanoha was a happy camper, too.

--More to come--


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3- When They Met**

I remembered when we had first met. By all rights, I shouldn't have spared her. Shouldn't have looked into those goddamn Bambi eyes. And when I say Bambi, I don't mean the stupid little deer that watched his mother get shot. This was the Bambi that knew it was going to be next. Worse still, she accepted that. Accepted her fate for all that it would amount to.

I had my weapon raised, ready to kill her, not willing to spare women or children- for it was children who grew into enemies, and women who brought children into this world and protected them. She was a child, a young girl. Midst the fires, the explosions, the abuse, the murders... she only sat there, as if in her own little protective bubble. Like as long as she didn't move, she wouldn't be killed.

Her mother's body lay beside her, slain by my hand not five minutes earlier.

"Why do you look at me like that?" I growled, not liking it the slightest bit. I raised my weapon and held it three inches from her heart. To be any closer would prevent me from having a sure kill on the first try. "I'm about to kill you, you know. You could at least scream for me."

She tilted her blond head slowly to one side, and then her smile widened. "Roxy says you have good taste."

The name didn't click. Without really intending to, I lowered my weapon away from her, spearing instead the person who had so cowardly attempted to stab me from behind. He died with a strangled yell on his lips, and I didn't even turn to look. Neither did the girl. I asked her, "Who's Roxy?"

"She's right in front of you."

I frowned, not sure I understood. "Is that your name?"

She shook her head slowly, her eyes still never leaving mine. She reached forward, and I let her, watching as she picked up a sizeable rock a little bigger than both her hands combined. She held this rock up and said, "This is my friend, Roxy."

At that moment, I made the connection between Roxy (pronounced Rock-see) and the rock. A laugh escaped me before I could stop it. And as I looked down at her, holding the pet rock and seeing absolutely nothing wrong with what she was saying, I let the laugh rip from my chest, loud and deep and slightly insane. "NYAhahahahaha..." When I had calmed down, I realized I was smiling as I reached down and picked her up by the back of her collar. She felt as light as... well, as me when I was up in the air. Weightless. "I like you kid. What's your name?"

"My friend's name is-"

"I asked you what /your/ name was, kid. You." I poked her nose for emphasis and she wrinkled it in reaction, still clutching 'Roxy' to her little chest.

"I don't remember."

I raised an eyebrow as I switched her over to my left arm and held her like I might a book. With the other, I continued on my warpath, killing any who so much as looked at me funny. "You don't remember? How can you not remember? What'd your mama call you?"

"Um, I don't think that was my name. What she would call me."

Amused, I prompted, "What was it?"

She looked down at the ground for a moment, clearly embarrassed, before squirming up my arm and leaning on my shoulder with her arms and whispering into my ear a string of cuss words.

I had a good laugh at that too. "Point taken, kid. Then, good riddance, eh? Sounds like she didn't like you too much."

"Mama always said I was in the way. She only had time for Nee-chan."

"Is that so? Well, she won't be saying that anymore, I promise. You're mine now, so I'll rename you, if you even had a name to begin with. Let's see... how 'bout 'Feito-chan'?"

"Fa...tal?" She tilted her head to the side again once she had settled back down in the crook of my arm. She was lucky she was light and amusing or else I would have pitched her in the air and killed her right there. "That's... bad, isn't it?"

"Not 'Fatal', Feito. Like the English word 'Fate'. Or, hm, I guess it would be like 'Destiny'. Maybe it was Fate that persuaded me to spare you tonight."

"Oh."

"What?" I raised an eyebrow, wondering if she had something to say to that. "What are you thinking?"

She shook her head and her hold on 'Roxy' tightened again. "Roxy said you spared me because you were wearing your lucky panties tonight."

I blinked, stopped, honestly surprised. And then it hit me like a ton of leaves. "You were looking up my skirt while I had you on the ground, didn't I? You little perv."

The newly-dubbed Fate shook her head quickly. "Roxy saw, not me. I pwomise."

I had to smile at her slip from otherwise very good language skills. At least, for her age. I looked up as we reached the edge of town. I saw my second-in-command approaching me with a curious look. "Vita."

"Do you want me to kill her for you? Or... is it a new pet?"

"Definitely not the first, perhaps the latter, or perhaps neither at all." I smiled as I regarded Fate. "Wrap up this little party while I head back to the fortress early."

"Yes, ma'am." Vita paused and then asked, "Do you want a separate room prepared for her?"

"No, she'll be staying in my room."

Vita stared, obviously surprised. I was surprised as well, but I was getting used to the feeling. This little bundle of Fate was going to change my life. I could sense it as I looked into her burgundy red eyes in the flickering light of the fires.

"Nanoha-chan, like this?" Fate licked experimentally, her eyes fixed on Nanoha for approval.

Nanoha grunted. "Harder, Fate-chan, much harder than that. You have to /suck/ on it. MMmnn... yes, just like that."

Fate smiled as she held flesh in both of her little hands and sucked happily. At that moment, she could have been likened to a baby sucking on its mother's-

Nanoha suddenly glared at the screen that had been planted to watch the escapades of herself and Fate. With her free hand, she hurled a nearby ball at the camera, knocking it loose but also jostling Fate in the process. Realizing what she had done, Nanoha cooed and apologized, asking if Fate was alright.

Fate nodded slowly, removing Nanoha's finger from her mouth and looking at the cut now sealed with her saliva. "Can I use my devilish ability /now, please?"

"Hmm... all right." Nanoha smiled, ruffling Fate's hair with her free hand as she watched Fate heal her minor wound.

'I love you, Fate-chan.' She couldn't say that aloud in this place, even if she was aware everyone knew Fate was the Favored One in that fortress.

'I'll never let you out of my sight again.'

When Fate finished and she gave Nanoha a happy smile, waiting to be told what would happen next, Nanoha drew her close and kissed her forehead.

"Nanoha-chan?"

"Shh." Nanoha kissed her forehead again as she hugged her. "Sleep with me for a while, won't you? We have a lot of time ahead of us."

"Oh... okay." Fate nestled her head on my collar bone and curled up against my chest as I pulled the blanket up to cover our legs. She grinned and patted my right not-really-apparent breast. "Sweet dreams, Lindy. You too, Leti."

Nanoha sighed, not really caring but still choosing to mutter, "Why do you name everything?"

Fate giggled, rubbing little circles on the right one. "Nee-chan always used to tell me, if you love something, give it a name that you will lovingly call. If you're friends, all you have to do is call their name."

"Right, right... You love them that much then?" Nanoha stroked her hair and smiled as she saw Fate start to drift off to sleep.

"Mmhmm..."

Chancing one last kiss, Nanoha whispered, "Dream sweet dreams, my little Fate-chan."

--

A/N: To tide you over until I finish the next chapter of SC2. :D


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4- Little Fate the Bedtime Story**

"Nano-chan's going to tell me a bed time story?" Fate looked up curiously at the White Devil that struck fear into the hearts of many throughout the land.

"Mmhmm. I won't even rely on some stupid book to do it either. Now, once upon a time..."

"Can I name the characters?"

"Mm... all right, but I name the first one."

"Okay." Fate wiggled in Nanoha's lap, the large blanket covering most of her chest.

"Now once upon a time..."

"Is there going to be more than one character?"

If it had been anyone else interrupting, Nanoha would have surely fried their lips shut with some rendition of her demonic ability. But with Fate... "Fate-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"If you keep interrupting me, there won't be any other character but the first one."

"Oh." Fate looked down at the blanket with quiet remorse. "Okay. Sowwy, Nano-chan."

"It's all right, Fate-chan." Nanoha sighed and started again. "Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Fate who was known popularly as Little Red Riding Hood because of the Red Wolf skin cape that she always wore when she traveled. It helped scare off predators because no animal, especially no human, was about to mess with a girl who could kill and skin one of the fierce Red Wolves that the area was known for.

One day, her old granny of a mother, Precia-baasan-"

"Hey!" Fate pouted stubbornly, looking up at Nanoha.

"What now?" Nanoha wondered if she was ever going to finish this otherwise short story.

"You promised! You promised I could name all the other characters!"

"Oh, right. Sorry. Then what is Fate's mother's name going to be then?"

"Um." Fate looked around for inspiration. She saw Nanoha's chest. "Lindy-mama!"

Nanoha sighed and rolled her eyes. "If you insist... One day, Lindy-mama was sick in bed with no one to care for her in her isolated cabin in the woods behind Uminari. Fate-chan, being the good little child she was, immediately set out from her home away from her Lindy-mama to go visit her and take care of her.

Little did she know, the previous owner of the Red Wolf skin she bore on her back had a baby, now an orphan, who lived in that neck of the woods. Its name-"

Fate blinked and looked up at Nanoha. "Why'd you stop?"

Nanoha believed that Fate was freakishly lucky that fate had dealt the cards in her favour or else she would be dead right about now. "Name the red wolf, Fate. That's your job, remember?"

"Oh. What does the wolfie sound like?"

"What does it sound like? I don't know. It probably howls. Or goes 'Arf arf' or something. I don't know- I don't listen to them."

"Umm... Arf then!"

"... You want to name it Arf?"

"Unh!" Fate wiggled her socked toes underneath the blanket. "And it's a girl, too!"

Nanoha sighed. "Fine, have it your way... Arf, the orphaned Red Wolf, didn't like Fate at all-"

Fate looked up at her in horror, and then tears started to form around her eyes. "Why doesn't Arf like me?"

"It's just a story, Fate. I'm sure if there's an orphaned Red Wolf out there named Arf that's female, that she doesn't dislike you."

Fate beamed at that.

"Can I continue?" It was almost sarcastic at this point.

Fate nodded happily.

"Let's see... Arf didn't like Little Fate because Little Fate had killed Arf's mother to wear her warm fur on her back. So when she heard that Little Fate would be traveling through her turf, Arf decided it was time for revenge... She went ahead to Lindy-mama's house, and when Lindy-mama, sick and expecting Little Fate opened the door, Arf ate her."

Fate stared in open mouthed shock. "She /ate/ her?! Why?! What did your right boob ever do to Arf?"

Nanoha chose to stay silent for a moment rather than risk yelling at Fate. "Fate-chan, honey, it's /just/ a story. And I would explain if you let me."

"Oh." Fate settled back down again. "Sorry."

With another sigh, Nanoha continued, "Arf then stuck Lindy-mama's remains in a box in the closet and then dressed up in Lindy-mama's clothes. She then slipped underneath the covers of Lindy-mama's bed, because she planned to trick Little Fate into thinking that she was Lindy-mama."

"That's silly."

Nanoha raised an eyebrow at Fate's declaration. She knew full well that it was silly. "And why do you think that?"

"Well, what did Arf do, take off Lindy-mama's skin and cover her fur with it? Little Fate knows Lindy-mama would never be that furry."

Nanoha chuckled and patted Fate's head. She repeated, "It's just a story, Fate, it's just a story. Now, Fate wandered down to Lindy-mama's house, not knowing what had happened to Lindy-mama. She knocked and Arf told her to come in-"

"Arf can speak human-speak?"

"Yes, Arf can talk like humans. She's a very talented creature. Red Wolves use it for trickery and are magical like that."

"Oh. Okay then."

"And Little Fate went to her bedside and noticed that something was wrong with Lindy-mama, because she was a smart little girl like that."

Fate giggled, but didn't say anything.

"She said, loudly, 'Lindy-mama, what a big NOSE you have!' and Arf responded, sensitive about her big snout, 'All the better to sniff your sweet-smelling hair, you rude little brat. What have you been learning while you've been away?'

"Little Fate paid this no mind and went on with voicing her observations. 'Mama! What big EYES you have.' To which Arf, as Lindy-mama, replied, 'All the better to see how beautiful you've become, Little Fate. And I can't help my big eyes. The Creator seems to think big eyes equal 'moe' which equals good for hunting, but it doesn't.

"Finally, Little Fate gasped and said, 'You're not my Lindy-mama! Lindy-mama wouldn't care about hunting!' It was then that she saw Arf's pointed fangs and she started to get scared. 'My, what big t-teeth you have!' At this point, Arf dropped the act and yelled out, 'All the better to tear you limb from limb and suck and chew on your bones until-"

Nanoha stopped, watching Fate quiver and whimper, a little ball underneath the blanket.

She smiled softly before continuing in a whisper, "But when Little Fate was brought close, she saw Arf as the little wolf pup that she was and, despite her predicament, said, 'You're so cute!' This stopped Arf in her tracks, and Little Fate continued, 'Why are you dressed up in my Lindy-mama's clothes? Your fur is so soft and you look so cuddly... We should be friends.' To this, despite all her bravado and attempts to be fierce, Arf could only answer with her name: 'Arf'?"

Fate peeked out from underneath the blankets.

"Little Fate helped Arf out of the clothes and befriended Arf, allowing them to let bygones be bygones. They had both loved their mothers and had killed each other's mothers so the scoreboard was even now. They could shake paws and be friends, couldn't they? They lived in the forest happily and Little Fate grew up big and strong, just like Arf did.

"One day, a hunter with long blond hair and green eyes came looking for the rare Red Wolf to hunt down and bring home as his prize. But when he saw Fate, he fell in love and tried to court her. Arf saw this and when Fate wasn't watching, she killed and ate him. No one dared to mess with the pair after that, and they lived happily ever after. The End."

Fate stared, her head now completely outside of the blanket. "The End?"

"Yup, the end."

"The hunter got eated?"

"Yup, the hunter got eaten."

Fate still wasn't sure how to react to this story. Sure she was adopted by demons and demon animals eating humans wasn't entirely unheard of, but... "Nano-chan?"

"What?"

"Does this mean I get to have a Red Wolf for Chri-"

"We demons don't celebrate Christmas. You know that."

"Day of the Dead then?"

"... Maybe. If you're a good little demon-in-training."

Fate perked up and hugged Nanoha. "Thank you, Nano-chan! I wuv you!"

"Demons don't talk about love or 'wuv' either."

But Nanoha would not deny that she was just a "teeny bit" happy about Fate's admission.

--

A/N: Yayz. Look forward to Arf in the next chapter. :3 Thanks for giving this story love.


	5. Chapter 5

**Psychotic Devil!Nanoha  
**

**Part 5- Meeting Arf**

Fate hummed a little tune as she skipped down the hallways, her little booties making soft pitter-patter sounds against the cold linoleum. Nanoha had told her she had 'work' to do, so she was on her own to find something to amuse herself with. She had dutifully promised that she wouldn't set foot outside the fortress, even if she missed Quack.

"Halt!"

"Salt!" Fate immediately responded, even as she twirled around to face whoever had called her. She grinned as she recognized the person and ran up for a hug. "Lilith-san!"

Devil!Maid Lilith looked embarrassed as she accepted the affection from the little she-devill that knew no better, and she kept glancing around to make sure no one was watching them. "Fate-sama, what are you doing out here alone?"

"Nano-chan had some work to do." Fate gave her a toothy grin before inviting, "Lilith-san! Will you play with me today?"

Lilith bit her lip in worry. It was one of the unspoken rules of the fortress that if Fate wanted you to play with her, you were not allowed to refuse. But she had all this laundry to do (devils were such dirty things after all) and food to make (they were pigs too)... Then, she hit upon an idea. "All right, Fate-chan, would you like to play a game with me?"

"Unh!" Fate didn't even start to ask what the rules were before agreeing. Any game was a fun game. Except that one that made her eat alfalfa beans for the losing penalty. Of course, when Nanoha found out that Fate had actually been allowed to lose, the victor got SLB'ed up his heinie and Fate got to gorge herself on chocolate cake so... any game was a fun game in the end.

Lilith pat her head before starting to walk, making sure Fate was following. "Have you ever cooked anything, Fate-sama? Eggs? Boar?"

Fate shook her head, before looking down so she could concentrate on her game of not stepping on the cracks. "Alicia-neechan always used to do the cooking. She said I was too little." And indeed, to say Fate was two feet tall even now would be pushing it.

"Do you want to learn? I was about to start making lunch..."

"Really? You'll teach me how to make eggs? Deviled eggs?" Fate's eyes glimmered with glee. Lilith was infamous for her cooking. Above all else, it was always said that Lilith made a mean deviled egg. It bit your tongue on the way down. Devils loved it.

"Yes, and I'll even teach you how to make glass pepper for some real zest."

"Yay!" Fate giggled and laughed, clapping her hands in anticipation. And then, she remembered, "What's the game called, Lilith-san?"

"Umm... It's the 'Learn-to-make-lunch-for-200-in-30-minutes game'. Rules are: You can't eat until everyone else has been served, and you can't tell Nanoha-sama about the first rule." It was a lame improvisation and she knew Fate couldn't keep her secrets worth a salt but...

"Okay!" Fate grinned, totally oblivious. "Sounds fun. Then what'll we play?"

"If you still want to play after that... we could play the "go down to the dungeon basement and pick up the laundry that needs washing" game... but that'll probably be boring for... Fate-sama? What's wrong?"

Fate had stopped, one foot on a crack, and she slowly looked up at Lilith. "The dungeon?"

Lilith suddenly cursed (silently). She remembered Nanoha had a strict rule about not letting Fate anywhere near the dungeon. That's where they kept their prisoner of wars. Well, the POWs minus Fate, of course. There were people from Fate's village down there. If she saw them... worse yet, recognized them...

There would be hell to pay.

"Uh, on second thought, laundry day is tomorrow, so maybe not that g-"

"I want to go to the dungeon!" Fate puffed her cheeks out and started flailing her little arms. Louder, she repeated, "Dungeon! Now!"

Normally, mild mannered Fate wouldn't be so stubborn so fast, but she had always been denied the dungeon, even though the rest of the fortress was free for her to roam. Her handprint was the password to doors even Vita had never been in before. Not that Fate cared. The dungeon was all that mattered to her at that point.

"Fate-sama, please, don't shou-"

Fate narrowed her eyes in an uncharacteristically Fate-chan way. "If you don't take me there, I'll tell Nano-chan on you."

Lilith wasn't about to take the bait so easily though. She had years and years of experience as a babysitter after all. Hands on her hips, she returned, "For what? Fate-sama, you know Nanoha-sama doesn't want you going into the-"

"Dun-geon! Dun-geon! Dun-ge-MMPH!"

Lilith had placed her hand over Fate's mouth and had caved in quickly thereafter. "All right, all right, I understand, Fate-sama. I'll take you with me to the dungeon."

And instantly, Fate was once more God's advocate in hell. The way to the dungeon was made in perfect silence.

--

She was wet, cold, hungry, and bitter as a result. She stared down at her little paws, hating herself for getting caught, for being restricted to her most humiliating form, for being tortured for answers she never knew. No doubt her family had been wiped out by now, so thorough was the demonic rampage, and she no longer had a desire to return home to an empty cave. No, if she could just escape from /here/. If she could just be left alone in peace...

She sighed and curled up into a tight ball in the corner, preparing to sleep off her latest whipping.

Her ears shot up when she heard the clattering of people on the footsteps. She growled and moved into a defensive position, only to realize she was too weak to hold it. She watched the door guardedly.

It surprised her more than just a little when the food flap opened and large round eyes stared at her. Red eyes. Naturally red eyes. Now that was rare, even in a demon, if she remembered right.

The flap closed and she heard voices. An absurdly cute, young voice and an older female one. What were two females doing here? Poke fun at her some more? Teach the young one how to hurt the pride of a Red Wolf even more?

"Lilith-san, Lilith-san! What's in here?"

"There? Oh... you know... come on, Fate-sama, we really shouldn't dawdle here."

"It was something soft and furry! I saw it! What was it?"

She couldn't help but growl. Ignorant whelp.

"Lilith-san, I wanna see! Open the door!"

"Fate-sama, I'm already pushing my limits, I can't just-"

"Lilith-san!"

She had to chuckle a bit as she heard the jingling of keys. This Fate girl really knew how to manipulate them.

But then, they were all demons. Manipulation was child's play. And Fate was obviously a child wanting to play.

The door swung open a crack and Fate popped her head in. She wasn't too tall, that much was clear from the size of her silhouette.

The Red Wolf snorted and pretended to go to sleep.

"Hello? Are you there?" There was a pause, as if she was waiting for a response. "Lilith-san, does it have a name?"

"It's, ah, a Red Wolf we found. Do be careful, Fate-sama. Nanoha-sama would skin me alive if something happened to you..."

The Red Wolf moved to get up, with the plan to cause a ruckus for her jailers, but Fate, that dumb child, she walked towards her all on her own.

"A Red Wolf? Like in the story?" Fate stopped just a few feet from where the Red Wolf was now sitting on her hind legs. Hesitantly, she lifted a hand up and asked, "Your fur looks soft. Can I pet you?"

The Red Wolf stepped forward and licked Fate's hand, intending to bite it off in the next move, but then she was close enough to see the glimmer of happiness in the little girl's eyes... and she couldn't bring herself to go through with it.

Instead, guilty as syn, she nuzzled Fate's chest and licked her cheek.

Fate giggled. "I like you. You're sweet. Can I call you Arf?"

'Arf'? The Red Wolf snorted and moved backwards. That was hardly a dignified name for a great Red Wolf like her.

Fate pouted, sorrow in her eyes now. "No? Bark for me. Or howl. Whatever you do."

And she yipped at her. "Arf!"

Dammit, it really did sound like 'Arf'.

Fate giggled and clapped her hands. "See, you /are/ Arf. My Arf." Fate pet her forehead and the Red Wolf, newly dubbed Arf, found her resolve weakening further.

"Fate-sama, I think that's quite enough..."

"Lilith-san, you have work you need to do, right? I'll wait here with Arf. Just come get me when you're done."

There was a sigh from the open doorway. "Fate-sama, you know I can't-"

I yipped again and grabbed Fate by the collar of her shirt and trotted over to the door, depositing her at the feet of the adult devil. I didn't have the patience to babysit anyone.

She pouted at this, turning to Arf and asking, "You don't want me to stay?"

Arf shook her little head.

Fate was silent for a moment, but when Lilith started to close the door, Fate took off her little teddy-bear pack-pack and threw it into the cell before running off.

It wasn't until the door had been locked and there were fading pitter-patters of footsteps as Lilith gave chase, but Arf eventually sniffed at the bag. It didn't take her long to realize that there was food in there and she spent the better part of an hour figuring out how to open the thing and dragging out the napkin filled with food scraps.

Arf chuckled again when she realized it was mostly vegetables. She munched quietly, not one to complain.

A carnivore is only a carnivore for as long as there is meat to be eaten after all.

Fate... Arf chuckled and shook her head. Maybe she didn't want to run away so much after all.

Hours later, Nanoha returned to find Fate crying (fake tears), for which Lilith was deftly sent away to be punished. At first, Nanoha resisted when Fate said she wanted to bring Arf up to the surface as her pet, but when this was advocated in favor of having someone around to always protect Fate and keep her company, Nanoha agreed.

A week after they had met, Arf saw the outside world again, a little plumper than she had been before, and her wounds safely healed.

And when Fate put her fingers in her mouth to whistle for her and only ended up blowing out air, Arf would quietly trot over to her and lick her lovingly.

By two weeks, the restricting collar was removed and Arf constantly changed between her puppy form, full wolf form, and humanoid form to best suit her needs. By the time the month had finished up, everyone in the fortress knew that Fate had just acquired a deeply devoted protector.

--


	6. Chapter 6

Warning: Here entails injection of... non-crack disguised as innocent crack. Beware.

**Pt. 6- The Spinal Cord**

Years passed since Nanoha had adopted Fate, and the older of the two deemed the younger was finally ready to learn the dark arts of torture.

"Are you watching, Fate-chan?"

"Mmhmm." Fate's eyes trailed away from the struggling random grunt that was the victim-of-the-day/practice-dummy and towards the door, behind which Arf would be waiting for her.

"Fate!" When Nanoha bent the grunt's middle finger back to impossible levels, forcing out a strangled scream from the grunt, Fate refixated her attention on the task at hand. Blue eyes stared hard into red ones. "Pay attention. You're getting older by the day; I don't want you to be taken advantage of by the other /lesser/ demons."

Fate withheld the urge to roll her eyes. She was well aware that Nanoha ruled this nest and so long as she was favored by Nanoha and everyone knew it, she was as good as set apart on a pedestal. "Yes, Nanoha."

"Good." Nanoha was aware that Fate wasn't as interested in the art of torture as she was, but it had to be taught for her to become a full-fledged demon in her own right. "Now, let's continue from the last lesson. Do you remember what I taught you about the many ways to incapacitate a being based on their spinal cord?"

Fate really wished she could be released to make flower crowns with Arf... "Damage to the spinal cord can disrupt registration of sensation to the brain, so complete damage to this part of the body is wholly undesired, until possibly after they've been killed. Rather, sharp, concentrated attention to key pressure points can maximize pain without quite killing the subject /because/ the spinal cord is the essential highway for nerves between the body and the brain. In other ways-"

"Enough." Fate looked up from her disinterested gaze at the back of the grunt with eyes that shimmered with hope. Was she being let loose early? Nanoha released the grunt between them, letting him fall onto the operation table. "You're clearly good at the theory. Let's see you do it in practice."

Fate flinched. "Do I have to?" It came out before she could stop herself.

Nanoha closed her eyes and pointed in the general direction of Arf. The tip of her finger glowed with her signature demonically horrid pinkness. "You have until the count to 10 to get him to confess his favorite color or else Arf gets it."

"Nanoh-"

"1!" Nanoha didn't even open her eyes, the pink sphere growing steadily.

Fate knew then that she was entirely serious. Feverishly, she thought about what the most effective way was, pressing the pressure point that she believed would cost the most pain (which would also pass the quickest). When she first demanded to know the answer to Nanoha's question, her voice squeaked, but she was better the second time around.

By the time the grunt was saying, "Kill me! Just kill me now!" Nanoha was on '8.'

Suddenly, Fate got an idea and leaned down and whispered something of a threat into his ear.

The results were instantaneous. "Green! My favorite color is neon green!"

"...9." Nanoha smirked, letting the pink light fade from her finger as she opened her eyes. Despite what she had just threatened to do to Arf, her smile was kind and reached her eyes. "Good girl."

Fate glared with something like a pout mixed with a frown. Her heart was still hammering in her chest. "You wouldn't have... have actually killed her, would you?"

"Never give your adversary the benefit a doubt. Those goddamned devil-haters have their own moments of double-crossing. They might say 'mercy' but act out 'euthanasia.'"

Fate looked down at the grunt, who was now breathing shallowly, and felt the energy leave her body. She didn't want to do this anymore.

"No devil started out as a devil, Fate-chan." Nanoha whistled and two guards came in and carried the grunt away. She walked around the table and placed her arm over Fate's shoulders. Fate was catching up to her in height. "Any truly powerful devil has someone or something they want to protect with everything they have. It is their one weakness, and yet their greatest source of strength. "

Fate was silent, staring at the floor as Nanoha led her out of the dark room.

Nanoha opened the doors for them, and Fate's eyes lit up when she saw Arf in child form playing with Lilith.

As Nanoha nudged Fate towards them, Nanoha's words haunted Fate to the depths of her soul.

"Demons become devils to protect what they love most."

"Fate!"

Fate ran up to Arf and dropped to her knees and hugged her tightly.

"Fate...?" Arf looked past Fate's shoulder and saw Nanoha walking away. "Fate... it's okay... it's okay..."

"If Nanoha became a white devil to protect someone pure, will I become a black devil to protect someone who's not?"

TBC...


	7. Chapter 7

**Pt. 7- Fate's Revolution**

"You promise to be good?"

Fate withheld her sigh. "Yes, Nanoha."

"You promise to break that promise?"

"Yes, Nanoha."

"You promise to be a good lying demon and lie to me?"

"Yes, Nanoha."

Nanoha hugged Fate one last time. "Good Fate-chan. I'll see you when I get home. Don't do anything I wouldn't do, all right? They're all yours for the weekend."

"Yes, Nanoha." This time, Fate put feeling into it, smiling as she indulged in Nanoha's hugging. She whispered, "Don't come back hurt."

Nanoha snorted at the idea, but her eyes showed her acknowledgment of Fate's concern. "I won't. Let's move!" With that she turned away from Fate and walked away with her entourage of lower-level demons.

Fate watched as they all flew off, watched until the flight hatch closed, and then let out a loud whoop of unrestrained joy. She danced around in a little circle with Arf before running off.

"Come on, let's hurry! We have to go call Hayate and tell her Nanoha's gone out of town!"

Minutes later, Fate had flopped onto the bed with the M2D screen up. Puppy-form Arf was at the foot of the bed, stretching out for a good long nap on the comfy bed Nanoha always kicked her out of when she was there.

Hayate answered instantly, as if she had been expecting the call. "Well, hello there, Fate-chan. What can I do for you? Nanoha's not home?"

Fate smiled, a little calmer having made contact. "Nope. She went to go kill some rebellious demons on the border. She said she'll be gone the whole weekend."

Hayate smiled back. "She'll probably be back early you know."

Fate hesitated, and then decided to plow through. "I know that, but... well... Oh, Hayate, just come over anyway, won't you? It's my first time being left in control without the old ninny Vita watching my every step. Come on, it'll be fun."

Hayate laughed. "Devilish fun?"

Fate flushed as she unconsciously looked down at her more than adequate chest, which had grown well with all the love it had received. "Um, well, something like that. But come on, you gotta help me! You know I don't have much time left."

Hayate's smile softened and she moved to get up from wherever she was sitting. "Be ready to open the doors in about an hour, all right? I'll be there."

Fate grinned wildly, the adrenaline pumping into her usually languid blood stream. "Thanks, Hayate! You won't regret it."

Hayate chuckled. "A devil never regrets-"

"-only forgets." They shared a smile. "I'll get them ready on this side too."

"See you in a bit then."

"Mm. Bai-bai!" With a giggle, Fate disconnected and hopped off the bed. "Come on Ar-" She paused as she saw Arf happily sleeping like she had never slept before. Creeping quietly over, Fate leaned down and kissed Arf's forehead. "Sleep the good sleep, Arf."

Arf murmured something, but did not appear to awaken. Fate changed her clothes to something between comfortable and commanding, pilfered tapes from her secret stash in the back of her sock drawer, and slipped out of the mistress bedroom.

She hadn't even walked down one hallway before she came across a subordinate.

The subordinate stopped and saluted. "Fate-sama!"

Fate stopped as well and leaned her weight on the heels of her feet with her arms folded. "At ease. Griffith, I want you to gather everyone in the mess hall in ten minutes. I want to... address them all at once."

"Yes, Fate-sama!"

"Dismissed."

After he scampered off, Fate let out a low sigh and pretended to gag. She hated telling people what to do, but she had to admit, it got things down faster here and didn't confuse those with small minds.

She arrived in the mess hall early and went to the cafeteria lines, where everyone immediately stepped back to let her cut in. She growled in her best I'm-in-a-bad-mood snarl and ordered, "Give me my usual."

Fate amused herself on the glowing eyes of respect that watched her drink dark red liquid from a tin can typically reserved for whiskey. It took a real devil among devils to drink that concoction at this early hour.

Of course, Fate would never tell that, unlike Nanoha, her concoction was only Hawaiian Punch with extra red dye, not alcoholic blood.

With her teeth stained red, dripping with fake blood, she snapped, "Meeting in 10 in the hall. Be there or die."

She walked away to their simultaneous salutes. Fate already felt a headache coming on and she gulped down more of her punch. She could never understand how Nanoha was willing to do all that and more. Upon reaching the podium upon the dais, Fate sat down in Nanoha's usual seat and collected her thoughts.

When she saw Griffith amongst the other gathered minions down below, she stood up, ready to make her announcement.

They waited with baited (and nauseatingly bad) breath as Fate took advantage of the silence to add tension. Then, she started talked, soft, even, using her powers to echo her words into the cores of their undead souls.

"I've been with you lot for a while, and you know who I am probably better than I know any of you personally. You know that should anything happen to the White Devil, I will take her place. I haven't said anything concrete until now, but I'm sure you've all heard your share of rumors over the years on how I intend to change things.

"As I suspect days like this where I am in temporary control will become more and more frequent, I expect you to treat my word as if I am the ruling devil here in such times. Today is only the first day of many. I will lay down my ground rules here and any who oppose it, or any who ignore it, will meet a fate worse than death."

Fate went on to discuss punishments under her regiment, how dungeon prisoners would be dealt with, how they were expected to treat each other, yada yada, etc etc.

By the time she finished 20 minutes later, a few weaker souls had passed out from the very idea of some things she had suggested, while the rest merely quaked in their non-bootish boots.

Fate scanned the crowd with well-concealed emotion and growled, "Is that clear?"

There was a mass salute. "Yes, Fate-sama!"

"Good. Devil Mistress Hayate will be visiting us today, to help with preparations, so I expect you all to obey the new protocol. Return to your normal stations and implement my changes immediately. Dismissed!"

"Yes, Fate-sama!"

By the time the doors were opened for Hayate, the place had been transformed from the inside out.

Hayate whistled, openly impressed, as she looked around. She pointed to the newly appointed janitors in rainbow colored outfits with mops. "Are those prisoners or employees?"

"Prisoners serving actively passive punishment."

"Oh really? How so? Are those... ear plugs?"

Fate smiled as they walked past. Strains of the tune, "It's a small world," escaped the earplugs in a way that made Hayate cringe. "They listen to music agreed to be undesirable by demons but even less desirable for other folk, while doing jobs that no self righteous demon would be caught doing. Like making a place cleaner."

Hayate laughed. "Did you empty out the dungeons?"

"Mostly. The bigger creatures were released into the moat with trackers and are being trained into sentries."

"What happens to them if they escape?"

"They get shot by the goodie-goods practicing archery on the other side of the forest."

"Well there's a happy thought."

Fate sighed, smiling a little as she took Hayate's hand. "But enough of that. Come on, let's go to the bedroom. I've collected just about everything we'll need."

"Do you think... do you think Nanoha will... mind? I know she doesn't exactly like me..."

Fate smiled a secret smile. "It's fine, I promise. My word is rule for today and I say it's fine."

Hayate laughed. "All right, if you say so, Fate."

The day passed as Fate and Hayate locked themselves in the room. Any paserbyer may have been concerned at the noises that came from within, but after the speech that morning, they were hardly willing to risk Fate's wrath.

It was in this way that Nanoha came home (early) to prisoners cleaning her halls and Hayate asleep in her bed with Fate.

Before she even had a chance to be livid though, Fate opened her eyes, as if sensing her presence. Fate smiled languidly, and then poked Hayate awake.

Hayate caught on quickly to the new presence and also smiled. She put a finger to her lips as she stepped out of bed and walked towards Nanoha.

Her eyes pinned Nanoha to the back of the door. Hayate closed the door with a gentle click. "Welcome back, Nanoha."

"You're... here."

"Yes, I'm here. Surprised?"

"Very." Nanoha's eyes grew lidded.

"Do you know what today is?"

"I'm not so far gone that I would forget."

Hayate reached up, gently cupping Nanoha's cheek. "Happy anniversary, love."

"Happy death-versary, you mean. The day we became devils to protect each other."

No more was said, no more needed to be said. They kissed.

Fate slowly rolled off the bed, replacing her presence with all the things that she had helped prepare with Hayate.

As things gravitated toward the bed, Fate slipped away, until she was able to close the door behind her. After a pause, she made sure that she had gone largely unnoticed, Fate sighed happily and walked off.

If Nanoha was happy... if she could only let her guard down and be truly happily one day in the whole year... If Fate's precious person could be aided in that way... then Fate would not, did not, hesitate to help.

That was her devilish charm after all.

--


	8. Chapter 8

**Part 8: Together Again**

"I'll see you later then, okay?"

Fate started to stir. It felt dark. Cold. Where was she? Where was Nanoha?

"Oh, you're removing my ban now?"

"I… thought it over… I realized there's no good reason to keep you off my turf."

"Besides the fact that it's /your/ turf?"

"… Do you want to come back or don't you?"

"I do, I do." A giggle. The sound of lips touching lips and parting. "I'll see you… later then. Time for me to return to my roost."

"Mm." A pause. Fading footsteps that abruptly stop. "What is it?"

"Nanoha-chan… don't be too hard on Fate-chan, okay? You mean the world to her. She only wants to please you in her own way."

"Her own way… right. Go, Hayate. You'll be… late."

A laugh. "Demons never keep appointments. But I'm going, I'm going."

Fate was awake now. And scared. Would she be punished? Nanoha never said she could make changes to her regime… her schematics… Nanoha would surely be mad...

"Fate-chan?" Her voice was soft. Gentle.

Fate stifled her whimper by putting her fist between her lips. _'Please don't let her find me, please…'_

The door to the closet opened.

Fate cowered. The shadow was looming over her. "Imsorryimsorryimsorry-"

"Fate." Fate stopped with a small hiccup. She hadn't realized she'd started to cry. "Oh hell, Fate. I'm not mad. You don't have to hide."

Fate looked up at her, in awe, in fear, in surprise. Slowly, she lowered her hand. "Really?"

Nanoha smiled and helped her out. "Really." As Fate's body knocked against Nanoha's, Nanoha whispered, "Look at you, you're quivering. How long have you been there?"

Fate didn't answer. How could she say she'd been there for most of the night?

Nanoha seemed to know anyway and drew Fate into a hug. She started stroking Fate's hair. "They've come back, haven't they? Did you dream?"

Fate could only limply nod. She was so inexplicably terrified.

"Come here." Nanoha led her over to the still unmade bed, that smelled of… not of lust, but a not so distant cousin of lust. "Sit."

Fate sat, and was drawn into another embrace. This time, Fate's head was nestled comfortably between Nanoha's breasts, allowing Fate to hear… to imagine Nanoha's heart beating within her chest.

"I would never hurt you. That time is gone, Fate. I won't let _anyone_ hurt you, you hear? Especially not me."

Fate nodded, but Nanoha must have sensed her lingering disbelief.

Nanoha sighed softly. Her voice was low and soft, and she kept it that way even when it made Fate's shaking intensify. "I'm not your mother. I'm a demon, Fate."

"Devil," Fate whispered.

Nanoha smiled. "Devil. I don't care if you break my rules. Rules are made to be broken. As far as I can tell, the end result is the same, people that need torturing are still being tortured, and so it's not really a big deal. Were you worried about that?"

Even though this was what she had been thinking nearly the whole time that she had been awake, now Fate slowly shook her head.

"Then tell me. Tell me what you saw."

Fate was silent.

"Fate-"

"I f-f-f-failed you." Fate's body stiffened, as if prepared to be hit.

Nanoha only continued to pet her hair. "How? By letting Hayate in when I so clearly told you not to? Fate, even that-"

"Everything. Anything I've done. I… fail as a demon. I was never… /right/."

"Then you're the perfect demon."

Slowly, painfully slowly, Fate looked up. Hoping. Searching.

Nanoha smiled, tapping Fate on her nose. "Demons are never perfect, never right. If you are never 'right', you're doing more than fine."

"But… but… I'm right on the wrong terms! I mean… I mean…" Fate sat up, frustrated with her inability to form words. "I /heal/. That has to break some demonic code, right?"

"All demons can heal. You're just the only special one here that can heal others too."

Fate frowned. How could she still be so kind? How could the White Devil be so much nicer than her own mother, when her crimes were so much more worse? "You're the devil. Why are you so nice to me?"

"Because you are my link to the living." Nanoha kissed Fate's forehead with such tenderness, Fate felt she would burst into a fresh wave of tears. Nanoha kissed her cheek, and it felt moist. She must have been crying, but Fate forced down her awareness of it to hear what Nanoha was saying. "I gave up my life a long time ago, Fate. My last sacrificial act was ultimately suicide. Suicide is such a painful sin that we are transformed into demons in the living world to serve as our purgatory. Hayate is also such a demon. But you… you child…"

Fate hiccupped, fearful of what Nanoha was about to say.

"You gave your life up to me, rather than let it be taken slowly by the one I killed. Your life belongs to me."

Fate whimpered, knowing this was true.

"The rules that I make, you follow."

Fate lowered her head, certain that _now_ was when the beating would come. Nanoha was just talking around it. Prolonging the inevitability.

"My rules are to keep you safe. So that your life isn't thrown away, I hold it close to where my heart would be. If you listen closely, you can hear the beating of your soul's heart where mine should be."

Suddenly, Fate could hear it. It wasn't like the beating of a human heart, it was much more subtle, but once she focused on it, it was nearly all she could hear.

"Don't be afraid of me. I strike fear into the hearts of others because it's my duty as the Devil of the White Precinct. I… I care for you because I don't want you to become like me. I want you to grow up to find someone… that won't break your heart. When that time comes, I'll give you back your heart, and you can decide who to give it to."

Fate hadn't realized how tightly she was gripping Nanoha until her gaze flickered towards her hand. She loosened her hold, swallowed nervously, and spoke the words that had sent her into such a state of outlandish fear.

"What if I want you to have my heart? What if I would gladly give up my life to rescue yours?"

"No one in their right mind would give up their life for a demon, much less a devil."

"I told you… I'm never right."

---

The end is near. D:


	9. Chapter 9

Part 9:

"You're being silly, Fate-chan."

Fate looked away. Of course she wouldn't be taken seriously. When had she ever been taken seriously?

She felt Nanoha's lips on her cheek. Felt the cold fangs just behind those lips.

"I'm beyond redemption. I'm beyond being saved. Even if I got hurt… even if I died… again… I would not be saved. I will never be saved. I gave up that right when I gave up my life."

Fate shook her head vehemently, not wanting to believe, not wanting to accept that… the one she wanted to save didn't expect or want to be saved. "Y-You…"

"Sh-shhhh… it's all right, Fate-chan." Nanoha's voice was gentle, so very gentle. Tears threatened to spill from Fate's eyes. "And when I pass on, I'll return your soul to you along with what's left of mine. Maybe you can't save me, Fate, but you can decide for yourself what you will do when the time comes."

Fate frowned, not liking this talk of death. As if Nanoha was giving her an oral version of a will. Her will.

"Fate-chan, do you like Hayate?"

Fate froze, her eyes trailing guiltily to the bed, which, if she remembered right, had not been washed again in time… not that demons cared so much about hygiene and the like but…

"Fate-chan, it's a simple question."

Fate nodded.

"For me, or for you?"

Fate's eyes widened, never seriously considering the latter. "F-for… you… for… both?" She answered meekly, not sure how Nanoha would react.

Nanoha let out a loud booming laugh, but it had none of the insanity of her trademark "Nyahahaha…" It was… deeper. Softer. More enthralling.

To Fate at least.

"You're a good kid, Fate-chan. That's why I'm so taken with you. Next time, don't go sneaking around my back and just invite Hayate over if you want to play, all right?"

A bolt of indignation ran through Fate, opening her mouth before she could stop herself. "I'm not a little kid anymore! I don't play around like-"

Nanoha smirked knowingly. "Like what, Fate-chan?"

Fate turned away, suddenly catching Nanoha's drift. "That… it wasn't… nothing ever…"

"I know, pet, I know." Nanoha stroked Fate's hair with open affection in the privacy of their bedroom. "Hayate would have told me. But who knows, maybe, if you want, you can invite Signum over too. That'll be interesting."

An uncharacteristically lecherous grin spread across Fate's face at the thought of her former playmate turned unofficial rival, but Nanoha tickling her stopped those thoughts short. "That'd be fun," Fate agreed.

"It's settled then. Sometime in the future, we'll set aside a playdate day. Night. Who knows, a whole weekend's worth."

Fate giggled, feeling her inner child return to the surface under Nanoha's gentle attention. "You'll be there? For sure? Definitely?"

Nanoha hugged Fate tightly against her, preventing Fate from seeing her expression as she promised, "I'll be there. I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Fate was smiling happily until she noticed a strange yet familiar hand traveling up her thigh. She giggled, the last of the tears drying safely. "N-Nano-chan!"

Nanoha purred as she leaned over and whispered in Fate's ear. "When you're ready, you know what to do."

Fate's purring became a low, steady rumble, soon mixed in with flurries of high pitched whimpers and soft, contented coos. At her peak though, she did as she always did, wiggling to find clear access to Nanoha's neck. Biting down to muffle her otherwise very loud squealish-scream of pleasure.

Later that night, when Fate was dead asleep, drifting in the world of dreams, she felt more than knew that Nanoha was stealing kisses before leaving her alone beneath the covers.

It would not be until late afternoon the next day when Fate would realize just how alone she was going to be.

--

A/N: Short. *shrug*


	10. Chapter 10

Part 10: Quack Fate

The doors swung open, slowly, excruciatingly, not because time slowed to a crawl when Fate was impatient, nor because Signum was any less excited to have another "practice spar" with her rival, but because… well… to be quite honest…

Demons are too friggin' lazy to keep their doors well-oiled. And it was rusty to boot.

Luckily, Signum was skilled enough in the art of ghost demon jitsu and teleported from one side of the door to the other, so she was unhampered from running straight for Fate, who was similarly running towards her.

They met in a clash of teeth and nails.

Nails, clawing at sides, soft when in control, hard when desperate, rough, unrehearsed sounds being ripped from each other's throats.

And all the lesser demons watched in horror, wondering and revering their future Devil Maiden for putting up with such torment- and in public no less.

Signum and Fate eventually fell against each other, the last tendrils of their laughter dying off as they called a truce on their tickle-fest.

Which gave Nanoha and Hayate plenty of time to stop their quick, rushed conversation to join them. Hayate grinned and said, "Let's go eat, hm? Then you two can go off and play some more."

At this, Fate held her breath to gather her wits about her, just long enough to frown while smiling. "Nano…Hayate will play too, right?"

"Mm… maybe a bit later, okay? Business first."

Signum looked between Nanoha and Hayate and saw the seriousness in their eyes, but knew that if she remarked on it, Fate would not appreciate their coming.

So she poked Fate and then ran off, shouting, "Tag, you're it!"

"Mou! That's so childish!" Fate puffed even as she got off the floor and chased Signum down the corridor to the dining hall. She could only assume Nanoha and Hayate were following at a leisurely paced.

Halfway through her sweet potatoes and bewitched eggs, Fate realized that Nanoha and Hayate still hadn't arrived. But then Signum flung some peas up her nose, starting a full-fledged food fight.

By the time Lilith had swept her and Signum up for a much needed bath, a couple of hours had passed before Fate had time to seek out the missing persons.

She checked in the North, West, South, and East corridors, with no luck. So she turned around and tried the NE, NW, SW, and SE hidden passages. Still nothing. Well, she did find an old potato, but she thought nothing of it.

At that point, she traded in her devil pride for necessity of the moment and started calling out their names. It wasn't like Nanoha or Hayate to not answer her.

_If they were within range._

It occurred to Fate then that they might have flown the coop. They could do that, having flying magic and all. It was entirely possible.

"But she promised!" Fate puffed her cheeks out at no one in particular before hurrying off down a random corridor that would likely lead outdoors do the floating labyrinth maze of doom. "Nanoha-chan! Where are you?! Hayate!"

Finally, she stopped at the foot of the attic stairwell. Signum was already there, like a sentry. Arf was there too. That was when Fate knew this was the answer.

But she hated the attic. It was high up and really scary and there were ghosts and ghouls and other things worse than any Devil she had ever known.

It struck her then that Nanoha might need help. That she had been overwhelmed by the baddies and needed brave Fate to conquer them and beat them into submission with mind-rapping Barney reruns. She had to go.

… She ran to the bathroom, hopping from one foot to the other along the way.

After relieving herself, she came back, nice and content, with her game face on. Don't be mistaken, this is not the face that she used when playing poker (which was always some shade of red as it involved stripping and her always losing), nor was it the face she put on when hunting game (because those dagnab Monopoly pieces kept getting eaten or lost).

No, she had on the Face of Fate. Which would be pretty gosh darn scary if she weren't so darn cute.

Signum tried to stop her. "Fate. Don't go up there."

Fate went up anyway, leaving Signum to play Old Maid with Arf.

What she found was and was not what she expected to find. There was magic circles, and Nanoha was in one of them. Hayate was in another one, doing an incantation.

Fate raced forward when she realized that Nanoha was unconscious, but the presence of the other magical circle stopped her.

It was glowing.

It was yellow.

It was… Quack!

"Quack!"

Hayate opened her eyes and probably would have cursed if she wasn't in the middle of an incantation.

Fate crossed the room, tripped over some stray clump of air, got up, and ran again. She wrapped her arms over the now 7 foot tall duck and squeezed the living daylights out of him.

Fate started to feel strange.

"Quack?"

By all rights, Hayate should have stopped the incantation right there and then.

Fate fell into a dead faint as an eerie swoosh and whoosh consumed her.

When she came to, Nanoha's body was nowhere to be seen, and neither, for that matter, was Hayate.

But the duck. Her duck was still there.

And as Fate looked up into his- no, her shining blue eyes, she realized she had never been happier.

Fate hugged her and whispered, "Can I still call you 'Quack', Nanoha?"

The duck nipped at her hair but fondly nuzzled her hair with its cheek. "Quack."

Eventually, Fate and her duck made it down the narrow steps, to where only Arf was waiting for her.

Arf took one look at the duck and bowed in reverence.

"At ease." Fate smiled first at Arf and then up at Quack. "This is the beginning of a new era. There will be demons… and devils… but there will be respect and peace too."

And it was indeed a new era. No longer was it the era of the White Devil, but rather, after the rumors had spread that Fate had defeated Nanoha and taken her place as reigning Devil, it became a rather ironically named era.

The Era of Quack Fate, the Quack Devil that wasn't a quack at all- she was a legit Teletubbie lover with a oversized duck companion with a menacing glare.

But they expected no less of She who Beat the White Devil

~As things end, they should be as they began, an endless cycle, yet ever changing~

~Not TBC~

The End.

A/N: Alas, once again I realized/remembered epilogue epicness so... one teensy non-story chapter will be featured.

Preview: Vivio is born! (*giggles* I almost wrote pr0n)


	11. Quack Fate Epiclogue

WARNING: The following piece requires massive amounts of Suspension of Disbelief, following Illogical Logic, includes Implied Duck-iality, TALKING Ducks, and also involves references to StrikerS, MaiHime anime ending, and Shugo Chara. :D But I likes it. Really.

Quack!Fate

Teh Epic-logue

"It's here, I know it is!"

"What's here, Fate?"

Arf barked, "Hey! That's _Quack M. _Fate to you. Show some respect!"

Vita rolled her eyes. "Oh please, I've been around longer than your _Maiden_ Fate has been out of diapers."

Before Arf could snarl a comeback, Fate distractedly said, "Never _mind_ all that! Look, there it is!"

Vita and Arf looked past Fate to the pond… and saw a lone baby duck.

Oh God no.

"Mistress-"

"Fate-"

Both were cut off as Fate made her intentions clear. Kneeling at the edge of the pond, she started calling over to the duck, throwing out little bits of bread from a bag apparently filled just for this purpose.

The duckling approached to a point, but refused to get within arm's reach. It was a smart little bugger.

That was when Fate decided to pull out the big guns. Holding out a hand behind her back, she commanded, "Vita-chan, lend me the bunny off your hat."

Vita was absolutely positively mortified of the idea of losing her Mr. Snookums Jr., but while she was struggling over her issue of pride and allegiance, Arf snatched it off her hat and handed it over.

Fate didn't even bat an eyelash as she held the bunny out to the duckling. It became immediately fixated.

Fate experimentally held the bunny over to the right, and the duckling obediently followed the movement with its whole head. Fate did the same to the left, with a similar reaction.

Gentle and soothing, Fate eventually coaxed the duckling within range, scooping it out of the water into her arms so that the duck could hug the bunny and she could hug the duck. After making sure the duckling was comfortable, Fate stood up and turned to smile at her companions.

Vita refused to speak to her after her bunny was so rudely slobbered on by the non-salivating duckling.

Arf eagerly asked, "What next?"

"Next…" Fate gave a grim smile. "… We find the curry cubes."

When Fate finally returned to the fortress, she was quite pleased with her accumulation skills. She set them all in a inescapable compartment and showcased them off to her larger duck companion.

"See, Nanoha? I got everything you said I need for the spell. I got the baby duck, the curry cubes, the chocolate, the seaweed, and I even got an ant for good luck! Now I just need to mix the stuff- not the duck of course- and load the cartridge into Bardiche and we'll be ready to go."

"Qua-" The duck cleared her throat and gestured with her beak to the bed, which she was sitting on. "Come over here."

Fate giggled and nodded, leaving her stuff on the table before jumping on the bed and wrapping her arms around Nanoha's neck. "You're so fluffy."

"I'm ready whenever you are."

"Mm!" Fate grinned. "It'll be soon. Real… soon."

"If it works-"

"It /will/ work! Nanoha's never been wrong before!"

Nanoha didn't reply as she said, "When it works then, what are we going to name… it?"

"I want a girl. A girl's name." Fate grinned. "Something grand and… Vivacious. Like that Las Vegas place you took me to once, remember? On Earth?"

Nanoha bobbed her head. "Vivacious is a bit long… how about… Vivio?"

Fate wrinkled her nose. "Isn't Vivio a boy's name? You know, it ends in 'o' and all that…"

"Vivia sounds weird. Vivian?"

"Eww, no. That was that mean girl from that show, um, Legally Broad, right?"

"Blonde. And she wasn't that mean. And it's a nice name."

"Still… okay, how about this? If it's a girl, we'll name it Vivian, and if it's a boy… Vivio. Deal?"

Nanoha paused a moment and then nodded. "Sounds good."

---

It was near midnight when Fate burst into the bedroom with excited whispers spilling past her lips.

Nanoha stirred slowly for her slumber.

"Nanoha, Nanoha, I did it! Look!"

Nanoha leaned back as a vile of glowing rainbow liquid was thrust too quickly into her immediate line of sight. "Did you… did you do it right?"

"It's the right color, isn't it? And I put in all the ingredients in exactly the order the recipe said. Come on, Nanoha, let's do it."

Nanoha blinked. "Now? Fate, it's almost midnight."

Fate scoffed, jumping off the bed to grab Bardiche. "What kind of demons have curfews anyway? Bardiche, set up!"

"Yes sir."

Fate held the extended staff in her hand and smiled as the cartridge compartment opened to let her slip in the contents of the vial. Closing it up, she cocked the staff like a gun and looked at Nanoha.

Fate smiled and approached the bed. Crawling up on top of the bed, Fate wrapped her arms around Nanoha's neck once more.

"Are you ready, love?"

"Fate… Fate… if this works, I… I just…"

"Shhh… it's going to be okay, Nanoha. It'll go perfectly."

"…I'm so happy, Fate."

Fate smiled as she intoned, "Bardiche! Load silver cartridge!"

"Fate!" Nanoha squirmed. "Wasn't it rainbow?"

"The liquid was, but its incased in a silver cartridge. To ward off vampires."

--Scene censored in bunches of green pixilation—

-the next morning-

"Oh my L-Mistress! Fate! Fate, look!"

Fate slowly stirred, rubbing her eyes and wondering why there was no longer any blanket to cover her nude body.

And then she saw it.

At the foot of the bed, there was a lone, pure white egg.

"Is that…?"

"Yes! Fate, yes! This is it! This is-"

"The Embryo! We've done it!" Fate hugged Nanoha tightly, excited beyond all means of mortal comprehension.

"Soon our wish will be granted…"

-skip, skip-

"It's cracking! The Embryo is cracking! Vi is about to be born!"

"Remember, Vivio if it's a boy, Vivian if it's a girl."

"I know, I know."

Fate gasped aloud as the baby chick emerged from the Embryo.

"It's a chick!" Fate picked up the chick carefully and held it up to the light. "And it's a boy! Vivio it is!"

… Just then, what Fate thought was an identifier… fell off. Like… completely.

Nanoha chortled. "I guess that means that it's a girl. Vivian."

But the chick didn't respond to the name.

Fate frowned and said experimentally, "Vivio?"

The chick started chirruping like crazy.

"But… Vivio's a boy name… but… it's a chick. It's a girl!"

"She's going to have an identity crisis when she grows up." Nanoha shrugged. "Oh well."

Fate laughed and spun around with Vivio in her hands. "Viva la Vivio!"

….

With that, Fate, Nanoha, and Vivio lived just about happily ever after.

The End-End.

Omake + Notes:

In the original picture, it said:

Uchu chousa chuu desu. (first line)

"This is a survey of Earth."

uchuu jin na no desu.

"..It's an earth person."

The items scattered at Fate's feet on the left panel are:

Seaweed (the two gray strip things), chocolate (the one the ant speck thing left a trail from), curry "cubes" (the ones that look like the chocolate without the dents on top… which may actually be curry sauce o.O)

At the bottom, on the left side, it says:

No.1: An Earth Guardian's Job

At the bottom, on the right side, it says:

No. 2: Real Hunters Fate and Nanoha

I was talking with my friend who translated it for me, and this is what we came up with:

MK: lol, what I THINK is really happening is basically in the picture, Fate is an alien who is taking notes of earth type things... which are the curry and chocolate and so on. It's work required for guarding the earth? Err... then I suppose...um.. actually, I still don't get the hunters part.

KL: XD

KL: but what about nanoha in the bgd?

MK: she looks like she's just watching what this strange alien is doing. _

MK: I bet she's the one who gave her the chocolate, seaweed and curry in the first place.

KL: :3

MK: because she's totally the type to try confuse an innocent little alien.

KL: and you can tell from fate's eyes that she's very confused

MK: Nanoha: These are the most important items on earth.

Fate: o.o What does this do?

KL: it makes lesbian babies!!!

MK: *transforms to hunter form!*Bardiche! make babies!

KL: Bardiche: Sir, permission to join forces with Raising Heart?

KL: Raising Heart: Yes! Master, I can be shot.

MK: X3

MK: That is definitely how it's translated in my head now.

KL: :3

This is KL, bringing crack to the convenience of whichever computer you choose to log on with.

*bows*

*Fleeeeeeeees*

Inspiring Image Below (take out the spaces):

http:// img388. imageshack. us/ my. php ?image= 20081115014712lv7. jpg


End file.
